The 20 countries with the greatest public debt as percentage of GDP

Japan, the world’s most indebted nation, is struggling to emerge from over two decades of stagnation. Greece, second in the list, is suffering a critical economic crisis. According to the IMF.

Since the early 1990’s Japan has experienced continuous stagnation. Recently, policies put in place by the Government to tackle the crisis have tended to push debt levels even higher. Currently, the Japanese Government is spending almost half of its total tax revenue on tackling the enormous debt. In spite of this, the yield on 10-year Japanese bonds remains at a surprisingly low level, under 1%.

Greece has accumulated a massive debt. On 14 July 2015, the IMF released a report addressing Greece’s debt sustainability. The introduction in the report gives an accurate image of the country’s situation:

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